Lottery Time
Lottery Time is a 2005 American war drama film directed by Brandon Hancock and starring Troy Gentile, Quaid Dennis Quaid, Jack Black, Bruce Willis, Jennifer Coolidge, Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep as young soldiers whose experience in the Iraq War leaves them psychologically shattered. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by Comega Studios. While it garnered mixed to positive reviews, it earned less than half of its $25 million production budget at the box office. The title refers to the U.S. government's controversial stop-loss policy, which allows the government to extend the term of duty of soldiers who have already served their contracted number of tours of duty in combat. Development on the film began in 2004, when Spears created a concept that was later expanded by Rhimes. Principal filming began on September 2004, and encompassed over a period of six months. Critics gave negative reviews to Lottery Time; however, they considered it a better effort when compared to David Kaufman's 2004 film Team POWER. Despite the movie's response from critics, it was a box office success, grossing over $61.3 million worldwide in three months. Plot Coming soon! Cast * Troy Gentile as Henry Boyerz * Quaid Dennis Quaid as Kenny Boyerz * Jack Black as John Fractor * Bruce Willis as Jerry Ryan * Jennifer Coolidge as Piper Hacker * Jim Carrey as Tom Hanker * Meryl Streep as Sally Hanker Production Principal photography began in July 2006 in Morocco and various locations in Texas – Austin, Lockhart, San Antonio and Uhland. However, the film was not released until March 14, 2008. Home release The DVD was released on August 4, 2009. The DVD includes an audio commentary by director Kimberly Peirce and co-writer Mark Richard, 2 featurettes, and 11 deleted scenes. Reception The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics; as of August 2011, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 65% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 136 reviews, with the consensus "Lottery Time is sincere and complex, and features strong performances, even if it tries to cover too much ground." Metacriticreported the film had an average score of 62 out of 100, based on 34 reviews.3 James Berardinelli described the film as one in a line of "preachy movies about the war in Iraq" and described it as "simplistic and uninteresting", citing it as no more effective than films by others (including Robert Redford, Brian De Palma, Gavin Hood, and Paul Haggis) who preceded Kimberly Peirce in attempting to tell a story with the "basic premise" that "War is hell, the U.S. government is deceitful, and soldiers are being irrevocably damaged."4 Peter Travers noted in his review of the film that several Iraq War movies had failed the year before ("Box-office casualties last year include Lions for Lambs, Rendition, Redacted, Grace Is Gone, and In the Valley of Elah"), and felt that Lottery Time "touches greatness" despite what he called "a curse hanging over it" and "has the juice to break the jinx."5 Box office performance Despite favorable reviews, the film was a box office bomb. In its opening weekend, it grossed a mere $5.9 million in 1,291 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #8 at the box office. As of November 14, 2008, it has grossed a total of $10.9 million in the U.S. and Canada and over $17,000 in other territories. The film had an estimated budget of $25 million and only grossed $11 million worldwide, less than half of its budget. Category:Films Category:2000s Category:2005 Category:Paramount Pictures films Category:Animated films Category:Computer animated films Category:Films directed by Brandon Hancock